What: bicycle extension that can carry passengers and
cargo
Who: Ross Evans and Kipchoge Spencer of Xtracycle
Where: North San Juan, California
When: started in 1998
By working in a medical clinic in Burma to help care for the
patients, Ross Evans has dedicated years of his life to helping
others. However, it was during a trip to Nicaragua in 1995 to teach
disabled men how to fix bikes that his humanitarian efforts changed
his own life.
While attaching cargo trailers to bikes certainly helped the
villagers carry products and children, Evans figured the trailers
would also be tremendously useful for similar purposes elsewhere.
So, with a $16,000 grant for inventors that he received from the
National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, Evans, 30,
and his friend Kipchoge Spencer, 32, launched Xtracycle.
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Xtracycle's primary product is the FreeRadical Kit, an
extension for a traditional bicycle featuring modular racks and
accessories that enable the rider to carry up to 200 extra pounds.
From carrying groceries and surfboards to carting smoothies for
sale in China, Xtracycle's products have been used for a
variety of purposes. In industrialized countries where the bicycle
is no longer a hot commodity, one of the company's challenges
is to make cycling "sexy" again.
With sales in the mid-six figures, Xtracycle's products are
sold online and in more than 100 bike shops nationwide. Thanks to
growing interest and exposure, sales for this year are projected to
increase by 300 percent.
Evans believes Xtracycle's products will eventually change
the lives of those who use them. Says Evans, "Our passion and
mission is to get more people riding bikes, because they're
going to be happier, healthier and more in touch with their
neighbors, community and environment."
Hire Power
What: website that matches prospective employees to
hourly positions in their areas
Who: Shawn Boyer, co-founder and CEO of SnagAJob.com
Inc.
Where: Richmond, Virginia
When: started in 2000
Searching for a decent job can get the best of us. Shawn Boyer,
a former lawyer, realized this when his girlfriend solicited his
help in finding an internship. When it came to looking for
part-time work, it seemed as if sifting through newspapers or
wandering door-to-door were the only options.
"I started to do the research," says Boyer, 33,
"and there really wasn't anything out there [for
nonsalaried jobs]. You had the bigger career boards like
Monster.com, but they didn't focus on it."
Boyer followed up with nine months of research, calling big
companies like Bed Bath & Beyond, Boston Market, Chuck E.
Cheese's and 7-Eleven, as well as high school and college
campuses, to see where recruiters searched. Investors jumped on his
pitch for SnagAJob.com--a site where hourly job-seekers can search
for free while companies receive applicants' profiles at a
monthly fee--and pooled several million dollars for the
venture.
However, selling his idea to companies was more difficult.
"You have to prove to them that you are actually going to have
job-seeker traffic," says Boyer. So he began building a client
base by advertising on college websites, online search portals, and
at the YMCA and military bases. For his first eight months in
business, he also offered companies a free 60-day trial of the
service.
Each day, new candidates sign up with the site. Sales, which are
now in the millions, soared 200 percent in 2001 and 2002, and 120
percent in 2004. "We consider ourselves to be brokers,
basically," Boyer explains. "It's funny because you
talk to individuals who are desperately looking for jobs, and then
you talk to companies that are desperately looking for good people,
and you think, 'Hey! We have what you need.'"
Humble Beginning
What: staffing services for the apartment industry
Who: Crystal Belt and James Weathered of Apartment
Personnel
Where: Fort Worth, Texas
When: started in 2003
How much: $3,500
Crystal Belt, 23, and her husband, James Weathered, 33, knew
that if they could keep their boss's constantly struggling
apartment-staffing business afloat, then nothing could stop them
from starting their own business. Even though the couple could
barely afford to put gas in their truck and had three children to
feed and a fourth on the way, Belt and Weathered realized it was
now or never, so they quit their jobs, combined their last
paychecks and invested about $3,500 into an 1,800-square-foot Fort
Worth office.
In the startup's early days, they spent late nights faxing
fliers and creating forms. To cut costs, they purchased secondhand
furniture and went bargain shopping for supplies and equipment.
Their determination paid off: Within the first month, Belt and
Weathered were collecting $15,000 per week in billings and have
since added additional offices in Atlanta and Houston. They've
even hired a CPA and a bookkeeper to keep track of finances now
that they bring in $60,000 per week.
"We worked hard, and we always knew we were going to have
better," says Belt, who projects 2005 sales of about $3.8
million for the company, which provides apartment buildings with
all the staff they need, from maintenance people to front-desk
workers.
While being a young entrepreneur has its challenges, Belt
hasn't let that stop her. "I hate it when people ask me my
age, because it doesn't matter," she says. "I know
what I'm talking about. I'm glad I'm young and I have
drive. I want to do it now so when I'm older, I can just
relax."